


Possessed Oppression

by WhoIsWren



Category: Ghost Adventures (TV)
Genre: Boys Being Boys, Depression, Ghost Hunters, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Investigations, It's Fun Until It's Not, M/M, Original Character Death(s), Paranormal Investigators, Possession, Teasing, as in original ghosts?? ya know...
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-08
Updated: 2018-04-08
Packaged: 2019-04-20 02:47:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,575
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14251416
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WhoIsWren/pseuds/WhoIsWren
Summary: It's Jay's first solo investigation and everything that could go wrong, does.





	Possessed Oppression

**Author's Note:**

> This is so weird, I've never been into RPF, always thought it was a little too much to ship real people instead of characters .... but this Jay and Billy fic ideas thing isn't going away so it has to be written. It feels a little weird for me but it's all in good fun. 
> 
> WARNING: Lots of mention of suicide and one character contemplates it. Seriously, watch out if that kind of stuff is triggering. It gets a little heavy for a moment there.

Not all hauntings were demonic; some were simply trapped souls that didn’t know how to move on. Those cases tended to be a little more heartbreaking but always preferable to the demon cases. He can’t lie, the demon hauntings are always exciting, full of fantastic paranormal evidence, and make for great TV. But the public doesn’t understand what being around demons so often does to a person. It’s draining and depressing; demons take a little piece of your soul and trample all over it.

No matter how good it might be for TV, the Ghost Adventures Crew needs to take a break from demon hunting.

At least they thought it was a break.

A small farm house in Ohio was host to a young ghost that had great ability to speak through their devices. In the 1930’s 18 year old Anna Phillipe broke into the farm house, climbed into the attic, and hung herself. The Berry’s, the family that owned the house at the time, had never even met Anna before discovering her corpse.

This death was not the only one to occur at the Berry farm. One month prior to Anna’s suicide there was another body of a young girl found on the property. On the very outskirts of the farm 18 year old Margaret Hampstead was found beaten and shot in the back. Margaret lived two streets away from the Berry house and Police believe she was on her way home when she was attacked. Her murder was never solved.

This case was meant to be simple, two young girls taken before their time. Where was the danger in that?

Their investigation had been going well so far. They’d had some great audible evidence, plenty of orbs, and few knocks and footsteps. It was a simple night, a few frights here and there but nothing terrifying. Just enough jumps to keep the blood pumping. Everyone was having fun and the atmosphere hadn’t been oppressive in the least; it was a good night.

Then 3am rolled around and Zak announced it was time for a solo mission.

“Alright, we’ve gotten some good stuff tonight but I think we can do better. Jay I want you to go in there with the Ovilus and a Full Spectrum camera strapped to your chest. I wanna see how the spirit reacts when it’s just one of us.”

There was a moment of stunned silence at nerve centre before laughs and groans filled the space.

“Bout time, buddy,” Aaron laughed, slapping Jay on the back encouragingly.

“Finally,” Billy smirks, a certain gleam in his eyes as he nearly vibrates on the spot from his excitement.

“Why me?” Jay groans, trying and failing to ignore how pleased Billy looks as he turns his glare on Zak. He signed up with GAC for the techy stuff, he certainly doesn’t remember signing up for the solo missions. Billy’s been through enough of them for Jay to know it isn’t something he wants to do on the regular.

“Because you’re an empath, and I think Anna needs someone who can understand her not just see her.” Jay glared a little harder at Zak for that one. Zak, being the sensitive, has been having a great night with his ability to see more than most average humans are able. It’s not that Jay is ashamed of his ability to emotionally connect with people or spirits but he wishes Zak didn’t use that as a reason for a solo mission.

From the moment they stepped into this house Jay could feel the sorrow, the loneliness and searching, but mostly he felt the anger. He hadn’t mentioned to the other guys, not even Billy, how this place felt to him. The guys wanted an easy investigation so Jay didn’t disturb them with the emotions he was picking up.

He has a bad feeling he’s going to regret that.

Grumbling to himself Jay sets about getting ready, collecting his walkie talkie, an emergency flashlight, a voice recorder and the Ovilus. Billy comes and helps him into the chest mounted camera, Jay going through the motions and paying little attention to him. When he finally looks up at Billy’s face his own morphs into a suspicious scowl.

“What are you smiling at?”

If anything, Billy’s smile only grows wider and his eyes sparkle with barely supressed glee. Jay wants to hate it, he really does, but seeing Billy this excited and happy is kind of hot.

“For once it’s not me,” Billy grins, nearly bouncing on the spot.

“Billy–“

“It’s finally you! You get to have all the scary shit happen to you, all the creepy voices and unexplained noises, the shuffling and footsteps, those growls and hisses. All of it. Just for you. I think this might be the happiest night of my life,” Billy sighs dreamily, a little dramatic but Billy can get like that sometimes.

“Really Billy?” Jay says flatly, in no way amused by Billy’s excitement. Okay, maybe he’s a little amused but he’s not going to let Billy know that. Jay perfected his poker face in his senior year of high school.

“Sorry,” Billy laughs, not sorry in the least, as he finishes the adjustments to the chest mount.

“No you’re not,” Jay snorts. The two laugh together as Jay finishes getting his equipment together. He shakes his head at Billy and squeezes the man’s shoulder before making his way into the farm house.

The door creaks as he steps through the threshold and Jay expects all hell to break loose. He’s seen Aaron and Billy have some truly weird experiences while doing solo missions. Billy has often told him the deeper side of solo investigations, of how intense it really is and how badly it can fuck you up. Jay expects the worst.

Yet the house feels totally normal. Almost too normal. So normal Jay actually wonders if there’s even a spirit here at all.

All the energy he felt when setting up the cameras before their investigation is gone. No sorrow, no loneliness, not even a speck of anger to be felt.

“I don’t feel _anything_ down here guys, there’s nothing,” he says aloud, knowing the X camera stationed in the living room can hear him. Jay walks around a moment longer trying to see if he feels a particular pull, someplace the spirits want him to go, but there’s nothing.

“Jay, go to the attic. That’s where Anna hung herself,” Zak’s voice comes through the crackly walkie talkie.

“Asshole,” Jay sighs. Of course Zak would send him up there. Jay can practically hear the guys laughing from here.

Stumbling for the stairs in the pitch darkness Jay makes his way towards the attic. Everything still feels normal, no oppressive energy at all, and Jay wonders if Billy was just exaggerating the hardships of solo investigations.

Though he knows in his heart that Billy wasn’t exaggerating the tears he’d shed in Jay’s arms or the screaming nightmares he’d witnessed. It scared him sometimes, how affected Billy got after a solo but the guy loved the paranormal too much to ever stop. It was one of the qualities that made Jay fall for him in the first place.

The stairs creak with his every step and echo throughout the house, it would be creepy if Jay wasn’t used to it. 

When he finally reaches the attic the atmosphere changes. Jay nearly sighs in relief; there is definitely a spirit up here.

“Hey Anna, if you’re up there I want you to try and scratch Jay. Push him or throw something at him, do whatever you want to him. Do your worst, he can take it,” Billy’s teasing voice echoes through the walkie talkie.

Billy is really gonna get it later.

“Billy, if you ever wanna get fucked again you’ll shut the hell up,” Jay jokes into his talkie. Well, only half joking anyways. He can actually hear Aaron’s loud laughter all the way up here. Dude needs to learn to laugh quieter, but at least Billy isn’t taunting the ghosts anymore.

Jay walks a little further into the attic and opens up his mind, letting the empath side of him free. It’s dangerous for him to open himself up like this but there’s something about this room that makes it seem important. There’s something here he needs to know, needs to experience.

“It was right here wasn’t it? This is where you hung yourself,” Jay whispers to the empty room, looking at a support beam above his head. If he was a sensitive like Zak he thinks he’d be able to physically see the rope, the noose, and her swaying body. Jay’s kind of glad empaths don’t get visuals like sensitives do.

“Wow, it got real cold in here,” Jay says louder for the X camera as he shivers slightly. It’s so cold he can see his own breath. Something is coming.

“Anna? My name is Jay, I’m not here to hurt you, I just want to understand you,” Jay says taking out the Ovilus. “You can use the energy in this device to speak to me. Why did you kill yourself?”

Jay closes his eyes and reaches out with his mind, taking deep breaths and staying deliberately calm. After several breaths the footsteps come. Faintly at first, a step here, a creak there. Then they get louder and sound more like a human being walking around the attic. He makes a few hands movements to let the guys know he’s hearing something. Opening his eyes Jay can feel the hair on the back of his neck stand up.

She’s here. He can feel her.

But it’s not just her presence he can feel, he can feel her emotions too.

“I’m getting something, _oh_ , you’re lonely. And _sad_ , holy _shit_. You lost something, something important,” Jay’s nearly in tears with the wave of loneliness and devastation coming from Anna. No wonder she killed herself, as horrible as that sounds. If Jay felt half as depressed as she did, he’d probably off himself as well. He nearly feels the urge to do it now. He’s never felt anything spiritual this strongly before.

_“LOVER.”_

Jay looks at the device in his hands, shocked.

“Guys, the Ovilus just said ‘lover’.”

_“KILLED.”_

“Killed. It said lover and killed,” Jay repeats loud enough for the guys to hear. _“Oh my god.”_

Jay’s always been a thinker and loves research almost as much as he loves his audio equipment. He understands now. Everything comes together in his mind like a puzzle getting the clue it needed to stitch everything together.

He knows why Anna Phillipe killed herself, knows why she did it here in this seemingly random farm house, and he understands the EVP’s they’ve gotten tonight.

_“Help….lost.”_

_“I can’t find…”_

_“Miss you.”_

It all makes sense now.

“Anna, did you kill yourself here because Margaret died here?” Jay asks the spirit. It’s the only thing that makes sense. Anna and Margaret were lovers and Anna couldn’t go on after Margaret’s death.

It’s sad, so fucking sad, that Jay wants to cry with sympathy. He couldn’t imagine losing a lover like that, tries not to imagine losing Billy.

Everything around Jay goes ice cold and his body reacts with pins and needles. Everything is veering to the point of pain but it all happens too quickly Jay can’t even tell the guys what’s happening. Not that he really knows what’s actually happening.

A loud piercing scream sounds right over his shoulder and Jay flinches from the volume. The scream sounds devastated, in so much unbearable pain, and so viciously angry. It’s a scream of death and of vengeance.

There are white flashes around Jay’s eyes, wisps of smoke floating in the air. They almost look beautiful, if Jay couldn’t feel the hatred behind them. A loud shot rings through the air and Jay falls to his knees as a pain unlike anything he’s ever felt before tears through his back. He screams in pain as he tries to catch his breath.

_“They killed her because we fell in love. I can’t find her here. She’s gone, as you shall be,”_ a wicked and terrified voice whispers to Jay. He’s never heard a spirit speak to him so clearly before, never knew they had the energy to talk so well. He heard it as if she was standing right next to him.

Jay feels like he’s dying, like the life is being drained from his body, like he’s actually been shot. The searing pain in his back is so intense Jay feels like he can’t breathe, like he’s gasping for air that won’t come. Not once did Jay ever think he could die on an investigation. This was meant to be a simple ghost, not anything as powerful as a demon.

Jay can hear the slamming of doors and pounding of feet, screams filling the old farm house. He hopes it’s Billy, he’d really like to see his face one last time.

The attic feels like it’s vibrating, like an earthquake is shaking the house. A single spirit shouldn’t be this powerful; it shouldn’t be able to do things demons are known to do. There’s something different about Anna though, her emotions were stronger than he’s ever felt before. Maybe that level of grief, of love and loneliness, can empower a spirit beyond natural means.

She must have really loved Margaret.

“Stay the fuck away from my boyfriend!” Billy shouts with all the fury of a protective boyfriend as the attic door nearly flies off its hinges. Billy flicks on the lights and rushes to where Jay is crumbled on the attic floor, directly under where Anna Phillipe killed herself all those years ago. “Jay? Jay!”

The pressure inside the room eases off slightly, like a breeze carrying off a layer of dust. Jay takes a deep breath, though not nearly as deep as he’d like, as the pain continues to radiate throughout his body. His back is still killing him and his head is pounding but the breath helped stave off the worst of it.

Billy crashes to the ground next to him, putting his hands on Jay’s face and shoulder as he repeats Jay’s name over and over again. Jay looks at Billy and tries to muster up a smile to reassure the man, but he doubts he succeeds.

“Come on, I gotta get you out of here. Can you walk?” Billy sounds so serious and commanding, Jay wants to tell him he sounds sexy, but right now Jay can barely breathe let alone flirt.

He settles for nodding and grimaces as Billy hauls him up and almost carries him out of the room, down a flight of stairs and through the front door. Jay doesn’t think Billy has ever moved that fast before.

As soon as the fresh night air touches his skin Jay feels like he can breathe again. He crashes to the ground again and rolls onto his back, gasping for breath and clutching his head. The excruciating pain he had felt inside the house is gone, leaving only a dull ache pumping through his body. He’s exhausted and wants to sleep for a week, he also wants to burst into tears and huddle into a corner.

He’s sore and he’s tired, and he’s absolutely terrified.

“Jay, are you okay? Talk to me,” Billy stresses, his hands rubbing circles on Jay’s arms.

“Dude, that was intense. Do you need an ambulance?” Aaron asks as he and Zak arrive at the front lawn of the farm house.

“What the hell happened up there?” Zak asks. Jay bet’s Zak is pointing a camera at him right now, ever the television host. He tries not to be too bitter about that.

“I feel like I got shot. There was this bang and then my back was on fire,” Jay mumbles, sitting up trying to pull his shirt up. “Is there anything on my back?”

He knows the answer before the gasps and curse words fill the air.

“It’s all red. Right between your shoulder blades it’s like this big red circle with scratches coming out of it,” Billy informs him, holding up his shirt so Zak can capture the evidence.

“Dude, it really does look like a gunshot wound. Like _Margaret_ , she got shot in the _back_ ,” Aaron summaries. His voice always sounds excited, like a kid in a candy store, but always with that hint of terror underlying his words.

“She only got angry when you mentioned Margaret,” Billy theorises, pushing Jay’s shirt back down. His hands remain on Jay’s back, rubbing soothingly and staying away from the would-be gunshot wound.

“They were a couple, Anna and Margaret. I’m pretty sure Margaret was killed because she was gay, and now Anna is stuck in that house trying to find Margaret,” Jay mumbles, his eyes remaining closed as his headache makes itself known with a vengeance. He unashamedly leans against Billy, needing a little extra strength and comfort right now. His emotions are all over the place and he’s having trouble sorting them out.

“Shit,” someone says. Jay doesn’t know who but he thinks it might have been all of them.

“It does make sense, how did you know?” Zak asks after a few moments of silence.

“She told me.” Jay stumbles to his feet, Billy a steadying presence beside him. Putting an arm around his boyfriend Jay shuffles back towards nerve centre with the guys following.

Luckily the camera was pointed in the right direction for Jay’s little experience with Anna. As they watch the play back Jay is shocked to hear a mumbled version of Anna’s voice as she tells him about Margaret.

It’s one of the best pieces of evidence they’ve gotten. The recording may not be Class A but the fact that the audio picked up the voice Jay was hearing with his own ears is amazing. Zak doesn’t stop smiling the rest of the night.

Usually Billy and Jay would have similar reactions, but not tonight. Billy stays close to Jay for the remainder of the investigation and won’t let Jay step foot inside the house. Jay has no problem with this and happily stays at nerve centre trying to regain his strength.

The rest of the night is slow, no one tries to antagonise Anna, and they mostly stick to watching things from nerve centre. Dawn is only moments away when Zak pays his respects and says farewell to Anna.

“Anna, I’m sorry for what happened to Margaret, it was a horrible thing done to her and she didn’t deserve that. Her spirit isn’t here, she’s moved on. Maybe you should find a way to move on as well, and find her in the next life. The love you have for her is beautiful and I want to thank you for allowing us to know your story.”

As their packing up nerve centre, all of them drained from an emotional investigation, Billy makes a suggestion.

“At the end of this episode you should show a list of suicide help lines, especially LGBT services.”

Zak readily agrees and Jay falls a little harder for his audio visual tech.

Three days after the farm house investigation Jay hears his front door open and doesn’t even think about moving from his bed. There’s only one person with a set of keys anyways.

“Jay? I brought someone who can help,” Billy whispers to him as his boyfriend perches on the edge of his bed.

Jay peaks his head out from under the covers, knowing full well how pathetic he looks, and spots the visitor standing in his doorway. There’s a priest in his bedroom and Jay just feels like crying.

There’s only one reason a priest would visit a GAC member.

“You think I’m possessed?” his voice sounds choked up and so unbelievably fragile. It doesn’t even sound like his voice anymore.  He hears Billy sigh as the man runs his fingers through Jay’s mop of hair.

“It’s been three days and you’ve hardly left your bed. Babe, you can’t stop crying and I’m worried. I don’t know if Anna possessed you but she did affect you worse than others. Maybe Father Iver can help,” Billy’s voice is soft and gentle, like he’s trying to calm a child. Jay feels like he should be upset with that description, but he can’t find the energy to care.

He knows he’s been depressed since the investigation but he thought it was just his own fears keeping him down. Margaret Hampstead had been beaten and shot because she was gay, and even though it’s almost 70 years later that type of violence still happens to the LGBT community today. Jay’s a member of that community and the notion of being killed just for loving a man didn’t really cross his mind until the farm house. He’d never thought about it until he felt what it was like to be shot in the back.

He knows he’s worried Billy with his melancholy, especially the day he tried to keep Billy inside his apartment, safe from the dangers of the outside world. His own thoughts and feelings are terrifying him and he knows he’s one wrong thought away from killing himself.

This isn’t typical Jay Wasley behaviour. Maybe an exorcism isn’t such a bad idea.

One thing’s for sure; Jay is never doing a solo investigation ever again.

 

**Author's Note:**

> For Camp NaNo I'm writing 20 short fics over several different fandoms, this is number 4.  
> [My Tumblr](http://www.nothing-personal-my-dear.tumblr.com)


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